Navy warns Whidbey residents of simulated gunfire training April 14

Residents near Oak Harbor and the Seaplane Base Training Area heard simulated gunfire for an hour Tuesday morning as Naval Air Station Whidbey Island carried out another training evolution that could be heard beyond the base fence. The Navy said the exercise ran from 10 to 11 a.m. and was built around controlled sound rather than any emergency on the island.

The Navy said it used safety precautions to keep ground operations from posing a threat to nearby property or people. That distinction matters on Whidbey, where military activity is routine but still changes the rhythm of the day when training noise reaches homes, roads and businesses around the base.

The latest exercise also fit a familiar pattern. A similar session in mid-March included simulated gunfire and explosive demolition training, showing that the base has kept up a fairly regular cadence of audible drills. For families, pets and workers in nearby neighborhoods, the effect is less about danger than disruption, with the sounds of training carrying across parts of central Whidbey for a short but noticeable window.

The notice arrived while the Navy continued to handle other training announcements differently. On March 5, it temporarily suspended routine public updates on EA-18G Growler carrier flight training windows, saying the change reflected heightened operational security and ongoing global military operations rather than a specific threat. Those flight-window notices had been part of the public calendar since 2013, when base Public Affairs Officer Mike Welding said they were started to inform people about activity at Outlying Field Coupeville.

The broader noise debate around the Growler fleet has stayed active. Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, a Whidbey-based anti-noise group, has challenged Navy operations and said advance notice helps residents avoid jet noise. A University of Washington report found Growler noise could affect at least 74,000 people and said some monitoring stations recorded events above 100 decibels when jets were flying. Separate Navy environmental review documents list a Draft Amended Analysis dated April 24, 2024, and a Final Amended Analysis released March 14, 2025, underscoring how long the issue has been under formal review.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, at 3730 N. Charles Porter Ave. in Oak Harbor, remains the Navy’s sole naval aviation support in the Pacific Northwest. Tuesday’s gunfire exercise was smaller than the region-wide arguments over Growler operations, but it landed in the same local reality: military training is normal here, yet every audible event still reaches the people living closest to it.